Greek Feta Cheese Pie, Two Ways (Triangles + Sheet Pan)

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A tangy feta-and-ricotta filling bound with egg, wrapped in shatteringly crisp buttered phyllo. The real skill here is handling thawed phyllo without shredding it, so this recipe walks you through it step by step and then gives you two payoffs: classic hand-folded triangles for a party platter, and a lazier layered sheet-pan pie you cut into squares. Same filling, same butter, two levels of effort.

Ingredients

• 12 oz Greek feta in brine, drained
• 1 cup whole-milk ricotta
• 2 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
• 2 tbsp thinly sliced scallion (green parts)
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground
• 2 tbsp grated kefalotyri or Parmesan

• 1 lb frozen phyllo dough (14x18-inch sheets), thawed overnight in the refrigerator
• 10 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp sesame seeds (for the sheet-pan version)

Instructions

1. Take the phyllo out of the refrigerator 1 hour before you plan to roll, still sealed in its plastic sleeve. Cold phyllo is brittle and cracks; room-temperature phyllo is pliable. Never try to speed-thaw a frozen box on the counter or in the microwave — the sheets weld together and you will lose the whole roll.
2. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a small saucepan over low heat, then let it stand off the heat for 5 minutes. Spoon off and discard the white foam on top and pour the clear golden fat into a bowl, leaving the milky sediment behind. This clarified mix browns the phyllo instead of steaming it soggy.
3. Make the filling: crumble the feta into a bowl and mash it with a fork until it looks like coarse wet sand. Add the ricotta, cream cheese, eggs, dill, scallion, nutmeg, pepper, and grated kefalotyri. Stir until combined but still slightly chunky — you want visible curds of feta, not a smooth paste. Taste; it should be assertively salty. Do not add salt. Refrigerate while you set up the phyllo.
4. Set up your station: a clean dry cutting board or countertop, the bowl of butter with a 1 1/2-inch pastry brush, and two clean kitchen towels. Dampen one towel lightly with water, wring it hard, and lay it over a sheet of plastic wrap or parchment; you will use this sandwich to cover the stack of unused phyllo. A damp towel touching the phyllo directly will make it gummy — always keep plastic or parchment between them.
5. Unroll the phyllo flat and count your sheets. Slide the whole stack onto the parchment, cover with the damp-towel sandwich, and only ever pull one sheet at a time from the top with a flat hand under it. If a sheet tears, do not throw it out — patch it with a torn piece and keep going. Every flaw disappears under the next layer.
6. FOR TRIANGLES: Heat the oven to 375°F and line two sheet pans with parchment. Lay one sheet of phyllo on the board with the long side facing you, brush it lightly all over with butter (dab, don't drag, or you'll rip it), and lay a second sheet on top. Brush again. Cut the doubled sheet lengthwise into 4 strips about 4 inches wide using a pizza wheel or sharp knife.
7. Place a rounded tablespoon of filling on the bottom corner of one strip, about 1 inch from the end. Fold that corner diagonally over the filling to make a triangle, then keep folding the triangle up the strip, corner over corner, like folding a flag. Trim or tuck any ragged tail, set the triangle seam-side down on the pan, and brush the top with butter. Repeat with the remaining strips and phyllo, spacing triangles 1 inch apart. You should get roughly 24 triangles.
8. Bake the triangles for 22 to 27 minutes, rotating the pans front to back at 15 minutes, until deep golden brown and puffed. Let them rest 10 minutes before serving — the filling is molten straight out of the oven.
9. FOR THE SHEET-PAN PIE: Heat the oven to 350°F and brush a 9x13-inch metal baking pan generously with butter. Cut the stack of phyllo sheets in half crosswise so they roughly fit the pan; overhang of an inch is fine and gets tucked in. Lay down 10 half-sheets one at a time, brushing each with butter, letting the edges climb the pan sides.
10. Spread all of the filling evenly over the base layers, right to the edges. Top with 10 more buttered half-sheets, brushing every one. Roll and tuck the overhanging edges down into the sides of the pan to seal the pie like a rim.
11. Butter the top generously, then cut all the way through into 12 squares or diamonds with a sharp knife before baking — cutting after baking shatters the top into confetti. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and flick about 1 tablespoon of cold water over the surface to keep the top sheets from curling.
12. Bake the sheet-pan pie for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top is uniformly bronze and the pie sounds crisp when tapped. Cool at least 20 minutes in the pan so the filling sets, then re-cut along your lines and lift out with an offset spatula. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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